Explore every episode of the podcast The Mothering Project

**** This conversation was recorded before Fionnuala’s little bub arrived — in that tender, anticipatory season before motherhood expands again. It’s a beautiful listen knowing what was on the horizon, and we’ll be recording a Part 2 to reflect on the lived reality once she’s in it.****

What happens when you stop ignoring the inner nudge and finally trust it?

In this episode, I sit down with Fionnuala to explore the real edges of entrepreneurship, motherhood, and identity. This is an honest conversation about pivoting from corporate life, building a soulful business, and learning to honour your energy through changing seasons.

No hustle narrative. No perfection. Just truth.

In This Episode We Explore:

• Trusting your intuition when logic feels louder
• Building boundaries that protect your energy and prevent burnout
• Structuring your business around seasons — including pregnancy and maternity leave
• Releasing guilt around rest and self-investment
• Why mentorship and community are essential, not optional
• The role of shadow work and mindset in sustainable growth
• Moving from grind to grace in business and life
• The power of retreats and in-person connection

Entrepreneurship isn’t just strategy.
 It’s nervous system work.
 It’s identity work.
 It’s season work.

If you’re a mum navigating transition — or a woman feeling the pull toward something new — this conversation will meet you there.

Timestamps

 00:00 – Listening to the inner voice
 02:04 – Fionnuala’s journey into entrepreneurship
 05:15 – Trusting purpose over traditional work
 08:14 – Boundaries and avoiding burnout
 12:29 – The importance of mentorship and community
 17:55 – Growth through entrepreneurship
 20:42 – Shadow work and mindset shifts
 23:11 – Advice for aspiring mama entrepreneurs
 27:50 – Preparing your business for maternity leave
 31:10 – Retreats, community, and future plans in Ireland
 37:11 – Transitioning out of corporate
 41:22 – Embracing seasons and staying grounded
 47:24 – Closing reflections

You can find Fionnuala - Instagram , Instagram

In this episode of The Mothering Project, I talk about the mental load — the unseen, ongoing thinking that keeps homes, families, and workplaces running.

• Not just the tasks.
•  But the anticipation.
•  The remembering.
•  The emotional temperature-checking.

The part that rarely gets acknowledged.

I share some of my own experiences — from early motherhood to returning to work — and explore why this kind of invisible responsibility is so exhausting. We look at how easily it becomes internalised as “I should be coping better,” when in reality, it’s sustained responsibility without relief.

This conversation also touches on the cultural layer — why mental load disproportionately sits with women, and why naming it matters.

Nothing here needs fixing.
 But it might help to hear it said out loud.

• Mental load isn’t just tasks — it’s anticipation and emotional management.
 • It’s not about who does more, but who carries the thinking.
 • When your brain is always scanning, it never truly rests.
 • Exhaustion doesn’t mean weakness — it often means responsibility without relief.
 • Irritability and numbness can be signals, not personality flaws.
 • Naming what you’re carrying reduces shame.
 • You don’t need to optimise harder — you need your inner world taken seriously.
 • Making the invisible visible can shift relationships and self-blame.
 • This isn’t just personal — there are structural and cultural layers at play.
 • Noticing what you carry is the first small act of change.

Returning to work after maternity leave isn’t just a logistical shift — it’s an identity one.

In this episode, I talk about going back four days a week and living with the constant tug between wanting to be present at home and wanting to stay credible, committed, and capable at work.

The guilt.
 The internal negotiations.
 The pressure not to be the first to leave.
 The quiet grief for the version of yourself who could stay late without thinking twice.

This isn’t an episode about “finding balance.”
 It’s about naming the tension — and recognising that the tug you feel isn’t weakness. It’s information.

If you’ve ever felt stretched between career and motherhood, grateful but unsettled, ambitious but aching — you’re not alone in that.

Nothing here needs solving.
 But it might help to hear it said out loud.

In this episode, I explore:

• What returning to work actually feels like (not the Instagram version)
• The myth of “balance” and the reality of compression
• The inner dialogue of choosing between your child and your career
• Why not wanting to leave first says more about culture than commitment
• How guilt and exhaustion can be signals, not failures
• The small, steady steps I took toward doing work differently
• Why this tension isn’t just personal — it’s structural

The place where it all started, the ideas and the questioning